New York Times: More than 4m subscribers and making money

More than three million paid digital-only subscribers. More than four million total.

The New York Times Company announced on Thursday that it surpassed those milestones during the third quarter of 2018, when the number of its digital subscribers showed a net increase of roughly 203,000.

That figure represents the highest gain in digital subscribers in a quarter since the so-called Trump bump in the fourth quarter of 2016 and the first quarter of 2017 after the presidential election.

Not all of the new subscribers signed on for news. The New York Times reported that, of the 203,000 new digital-only subscribers, 143,000 signed on for digital news products, with the remainder paying for the company’s cooking and crossword features.

Perhaps more important to shareholders, the company reported that it continued to be profitable. Net income reached US$24.9 million, a 23% drop from last year when the publisher realised a one-time gain from the sale of a dam owned by a closed paper mill in which the company has a joint venture investment. Operating profits, the company’s preferred measure, rose 30% to $41.4 million in the period.